Disclaimer: I dont own Harry Potter, or I wouldnt have to work with people who believe there are 34 days in august...ive had a long day
Right Here II
"He…did…what?" Fred snarled at breakfast the next morning, his hand shaking in anger, and Ginny, scenting danger, quickly intervened before her eldest present brother upended the table in his rage.
She and Hermione had come down to breakfast first, Hermione informing her of what had happened the previous night on the way, which had prompted Ginny to start yelling furiously about Percy (to the great disgust of Professor Sinistra, who had been trying to have a lie in, and had emerged from her room looking rather grumpy and docked ten points), and upon the arrival of her twin brothers, she had wasted no time in vilifying Percy, with Hermione's help naturally.
"Perfect Percy my perfect freckly arse." George sneered, mashing his scrambled eggs with unwonted venom, and Hermione sent him an odd look.
"You have freckles on your bum?" she asked, and he stuttered a little as Ron and Harry appeared, immediately driving thoughts of George having a freckly bum from Hermione's mind (though she did make a mental note to return to that topic later, she loved when she got one up on the twins and flustered them).
"Morning." Fred said, casting a proud look over Ron, who replied with a dubious look, as though fearing Fred being proud of him couldn't bode well for something later on in the day, which to be fair was a reasonable assumption.
Hermione was studying Harry intently, but on the whole he looked better than he had the last few nights. She too flashed Ron a proud smile, which freaked him out all the more, and he responded by hastily gulping down some sausages, clearly fearing that the twins were up to something.
"You ok Harry?" Ginny asked, her brown eyes narrowed, the same twin like malice roiling in them, and he nodded, though did look a little miserable at the question.
"You told them?" he mumbled at Hermione, and she nodded, breathing deeply through her nose as she did so.
"Yes Harry, I thought the situation required minds such as theirs." She said sweetly, though the look on her face was anything but, and Harry allowed himself a small grin as he saw the raging fire in her eyes.
"Really?" he asked, feeling strangely touched that Hermione would ally with who could only be considered her arch frenemies just for revenge on Percy, and Fred scowled, his eyes glinting dangerously.
"Hermione might be as boring as watching paint dry," he began, and she gave him an indignant look, while Ron and Ginny both seemed to develop suspicious coughing fits, "but she's one of us. She might be trying to stand in the way of our peaceful commerce and emulate mum, but she's got your back buddy. We all do." He promised, and Harry gave him one of his now rare genuine smiles.
With that settled, and as George was constantly cutting his bacon into tiny pieces then stabbing them viciously, clearly imagining Percy's face on top of them, Ron chewed a bit of sausage before regaling his siblings with the information about the letter.
"So his letter was nice enough at first. He was congratulating me on becoming a prefect, following in his footsteps, oh and not taking what he called the Fred and George route by ignoring responsibility." He told them and watched as both twins scowled even more than they already were due to their brother's slight on Harry.
"Oh he did did he?" Fred growled and Hermione and Harry exchanged grins.
"Well from there he gave me all this guff about how Dumbledore and Harry are liars and nutters, and how mum and dad's loyalty should be to the ministry, and we're rubbing shoulders with criminals and it's all going to blow up in our faces." Ron explained, and all three of the other Weasleys glowered darkly, and it was clear that, as Hermione had hoped, they were building up a head of steam that would soon be exacted in revenge against their older sibling.
"And then my favourite bit, the bit about encouraging Ron to sever ties with me and stop being my friend because I'm unhinged and violent." Harry said in mock cheer, eating his scrambled eggs, and Ron hesitantly squeezed his wrist as he watched his best friend contemplate his eggs.
The twins and Ginny were simmering in rage, but to everyone's surprise it was Ginny who mastered her temper first.
"He is the world's biggest git." She said in a voice of forced calm, and Ron nodded.
"I said that." He said, looking pleased that she agreed with his take on the matter.
"Well we all know what Harry's like. How he likes to off muggle borns, pop off to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his pet basilisk," Fred said, grinning, and George took over
"He's building an army by making friends with Hagrid and Lupin, is a deranged attention seeker but that's all just a clever ploy, because he's clearly the real big bad out there. You-Know-Who has nothing on this bloke." He finished, and was rewarded for his efforts by a small smile from Harry.
"He's about as dangerous as Neville." Fred concluded, and Harry grinned, and Ron snorted in amusement.
"Probably less, just ask Professor Flitwick what happened to him last year when he was teaching us Banishing Charms." He told them, though he did feel slightly uncomfortable, after all, he had walked out on Harry the previous year when his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, but Harry didn't appear to have reacted and Ron was in no hurry to relive that particular incident.
"Well, Harry's evil plot to assume control of the wizarding world aside," Hermione said pointedly (she'd seen his marks, they were fairly safe, she thought with wry amusement), "I take it we aren't going to let this one go?" she asked, her eyes dancing with angry fire, bringing them back to their original point.
She had gotten on rather well with Percy for the last four years, their only major disagreement being over Winky's fate. Indeed, in some ways she got on better with him than she did with Ron, who drove her right round the twist and seemed to delight in doing it. But his letter last night, his casual condemnation of the same person who had saved his younger brother and sister countless times over, along with his arrogant dismissal of his parents and other siblings and his arse licking attitude, they had driven her over the edge. She was in fact surprised that the twins hadn't exacted some form of revenge against Percy before now because of what he had done to their parents, but now, after describing what Percy had said in his letter, it seemed like the twins and Ginny had reached the end of their tether. Harry's hurt and haunted face had dogged her dreams all night, and she was so sick of the wizarding world screwing over her best friend that it was time to do something, anything, just to give him a little bit of a boost.
"You sure you want to dismiss Harry's plot to take over the world Hermione? I mean it could turn out very well for you, you could lead the charge with your army of liberated house elves, you and Kreacher would be best of chums." George taunted with a smirk, and she sent him a cold smile.
"Please George, as if I'd need an army of house elves. I'd just send the freckly bummed Weasley twins to fight my battles for me." She snarked back, and the others all laughed.
"Ok, so we're agreed on doing something about Percy then?" Fred asked, not at all liking the idea of Hermione being the power behind Harry's throne, that would be scary, and the others all nodded.
"Guys, listen, you don't have to…" Harry protested, but Fred shook his head stubbornly.
"Harry, you're more our brother than that obnoxious prat. He was a total git, he upset you, and he's about to learn that you do not screw with our little brother. Especially when that little brother took down You-Know-Who, fought him in person, saved our sister from a gigantic glaring snake, and told everyone he was back and is trying to save the wizarding world. He pays." He concluded simply, and Harry looked round at them all, feeling the love and loyalty flowing from them and he had never felt more at home, or humbled in his life.
"Thanks guys." He whispered gratefully, and Ron grinned, nudging him slightly with his shoulder before turning to his older brothers.
"So what do you reckon? I was thinking some bubotuber pus would be a good place to start." He suggested, and Hermione's eyes widened in malicious delight.
"Ooh, I like that, yes, let's do that." She encouraged and Ginny grinned.
"If the rest of the world knew the real you Hermione, they'd be appalled." She teased, and her friend sent her a mock glare, while the twins toasted Ron with their goblets of pumpkin juice.
"What was it you did to that guy in your dormitory?" Harry asked, grinning as he considered the numerous punishments they could inflict on Percy, and George grinned.
"Oh yeah, bulbadox powder, that should be easy enough." He exclaimed excitedly, and looked across to see Hermione writing these things down.
"You're unbelievable you are." Ron said in amusement, and she shrugged, before nodding to herself.
"Howlers of course." She muttered, mostly to herself, but Fred nodded along with her, his face dreamy.
"Yes with a little help from what we've been doing on our fireworks, that ought to make quite the mess. Speaking of, we'll need some dragon dung. Hey you reckon Hagrid has any skrewts left?" he asked hopefully, and Ginny blanched.
"That's a bit harsh even for Percy, those terrors running around. Who should do the yelling in the Howler?" she asked, and the Weasleys and Harry all looked at each other while Hermione took notes religiously.
"You should, you're pretty scary." Harry concluded, and she opened her mouth to thank him, then thought about it, giving him an uncertain look.
"Not quite sure how I should take that Harry." She muttered, and he grinned.
"That's good. We could put some of one of our secret concoctions in it too George." He said, now running up steam, and George looked at him curiously.
"Which one?" he asked, and Fred grinned.
"The one with the frogs."
"Oh that one, good idea, that means we can stick in a few bars of frogspawn soap with a few enchantments on them, make a real mess of his nice new flat." He spat bitterly, and the twins continued in this vein for some time, with the suggestions becoming steadily more worrying, at least from the point of view of the Hogwarts professors as to what fresh hells could await them this year.
XX
"Ron? Are you ok?" Harry asked worriedly, while they sat through another Divination lesson, where Professor Trelawney was attempting to teach them the meanings of their dreams, which Harry most of all found totally pointless as all his dreams involved the graveyard where Voldemort had returned.
"Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine." He replied, and Harry sent him a strange look as they returned to their copies of the 'Dream Oracle', Harry sending Ron a slightly odd look as they continued with their work.
To tell the truth, while Ron felt perfectly alright, there was something slightly, well different. He had woken up this morning with Harry cuddled up to his chest, sleeping peacefully which made a change, he'd seen him all the time at Grimmauld Place, sleeping restlessly. But this morning, it had been different. He had been very aware that Harry, his best friend, was curled up beside him, sleeping quite peacefully and that they had both slept together all night. That wasn't what was on Ron's mind though. What was on his mind was how ordinary, how right it had seemed.
He'd woken first, which was strange for him, he and Seamus were usually the latest risers in the dormitory, Harry and Neville were usually the first ones up. But his eyes had been immediately drawn to Harry, a sliver of light coming through the curtains and falling upon his face. Harry had been lying there, his arm wrapped lightly around Ron's chest, his head resting in the crook of Ron's shoulder, his face still a little pale from his lack of proper sustenance at the Dursleys and lack of proper sunlight at headquarters. His hair was messy, sticking up like it always was, sticking everywhere as though he had just run his hand through it. It took Ron a while to notice that he was gently stroking Harry's hair and that it felt like the most natural thing in the world. It just felt, right, him lying there with Harry in his arms wrapped around him, Harry's breath gently tickling his neck as he slept peacefully.
But while it felt natural, there was something else that Ron had to consider, the fact that his jeans felt rather tight beneath his robes. But that was crazy, he'd known Harry for five years, and never once had he ever been attracted to him. He'd seen Harry in all sorts of different ways, even naked a couple of times in the showers after Quidditch, and he had never once felt anything for him like this before. But now, something was different, he had had Harry wrapped around him all night and now, something was blossoming inside him, and he couldn't help but imagine now what it would be like to have Harry cuddle up to him again, sleep beside him, and his mind treacherously drifted, imagining what it would be like to run his fingers passionately through Harry's hair, press his lips hungrily against those of his best friend, hear Harry moan his name…
"You are clearly in the beyond! Come my dear, you were on the verge, what did you see?" Professor Trelawney asked excitedly, descending on their table, and Ron caught a brief glimpse of Harry looking at him, his expression torn between concern and amusement that he had just been jerked out of his fantasies.
"Um, well um, I was seeing…"
"That's it my dear, focus your mind to see past the mundane, and you can see further than any before you in this room!" she said excitedly, and the enthralled glances that Parvati and Lavender usually reserved for Trelawney became scowls as they looked at Ron expectantly.
"I see…" he began, trying not to look at Harry, who was trying and failing to keep from laughing, "a large pink toad," he invented wildly, "torturing children," he continued, and Harry's look of amusement turned to one of anger, his eyes glinting in warning, "and…and going up against a lion who is going to kill it." He invented and slumped in his seat, hoping it would be enough for Trelawney to get off his back, and he chanced a look at both Harry and Trelawney.
Harry's green eyes were narrowed to slits and Ron could tell that if this went wrong he would suffer for his false predictions. The rest of the class looked vaguely amused, but to his slight surprise, Parvati and Lavender looked slightly impressed. Edging a glance at Trelawney, to his surprise, she looked suitably impressed.
"You are perhaps seeing, as we intend to in dream divination, in symbols! The symbols present hidden meanings my dear boy, and you may be able to decipher these meanings and symbols for a true glimpse into the future. Excellent my boy, ten points to Gryffindor!"
When the class left the room half an hour later, laughing about Ron's 'prediction' Harry grabbed Ron's wrist and dragged him into an alcove, his green eyes blazing angrily, and Ron was suddenly aware that he had to suppress a desire to want to drag Harry into an alcove for something other than a telling off. Harry was right in front of him, it would be so easy to lean in and kiss him…but he brutally suppressed that urge as Harry started his rant.
"Are you crazy? I told you it's bad enough that she's doing it to me, I don't want anyone else involved, you already told Hermione and now you're telling Trelawney!" he snapped, and Ron reached up and took Harry's chin gently, looking at him apologetically.
"Harry I'm sorry, but you know what Trelawney's like, she's too oblivious to know what I was really meaning, none of them are, and they won't know it's you either. Besides, it's not like her and McGonagall are best of friends, and McGonagall would think it's some false prophecy she's made anyway. I'm sorry Harry she cornered me and it was the first thing I thought of! The woman's evil and she's torturing you, and I'm sorry but I'll never be ok with you getting hurt." He insisted and Harry let out a defeated sigh and Ron released him, but Harry did look slightly upset.
"I suppose." He mumbled, and Ron nudged him with his shoulder.
"It's not like I was wrong, McGonagall would kill Umbridge if she knew what she was doing, she'd go apeshit. I'm sorry Harry." He wheedled, and Harry let out a defeated sigh and followed Ron from the alcove, with Ron trying not to lose himself in thinking about what else they might have been able to do in that alcove.
As they headed towards Defence Against the Dark Arts, where Hermione had given Ron the job of making sure Harry didn't earn himself another detention with the evil old tyrant, Ron kept thinking about all these treacherous thoughts that he was suddenly having about his best friend. He'd never been attracted to Harry before, or to boys in general, but here he was, suddenly lusting after his best friend. What if Harry discovered what was going on inside his head right now? Would he lose his best friend? He couldn't bear the thought of that, after all, Harry was his best friend, and even if Harry was that way inclined (he was fairly sure he wasn't, after all he had been lusting after Cho Chang for two years now), what would he want with Ron? After all, he was basically only Harry's sidekick, and wasn't even as good a student as Harry, wasn't that good at Quidditch, was poor and the least important member of a massive family, why would Harry want to be with him?
And more to the point, why would Ron want to be with Harry? Since when did he fancy guys?
With his mind reeling, Defence was the perfect subject to be in, he could just sit and stare at the book while his thoughts chased each other around in his head as the entire class sat in silence, Umbridge giving a gloating, smug smile from her desk, her eyes narrowing every time she scanned the room and her eyes fell on Harry. Ron was lost in his own thoughts, wondering if he just had a crush, or was just going mad, or what and barely heard when the bell rang to signal the end of class.
"Mr Potter, a word please." Umbridge said in her sickly sweet voice, and Hermione shared with Ron a look of foreboding as they left the room, leaving Harry staring at Umbridge, who gave him a gloating smile.
"Yes Professor?" he asked in a voice of forced politeness, whereas deep down he would love nothing more than to go all Voldemort on her and kill her where she stood, clad in that stupid pink cardigan with her stupid bow on her head, her toady eyes fixed on him.
"It has come to my attention Mr Potter that someone has been spreading nasty, attention seeking lies about my detentions. I can't have that Mr Potter. So that's another detention you've earned for yourself." She said sweetly, and Harry's mouth jarred open in fury at the injustice.
"What? I haven't done anything, I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want to give you the satisfaction!" he spat at her, and she stood there blankly for a minute, before her face broke into a wide, toadlike smile, her eyes glinting with malice.
"Dear dear Mr Potter. Such a temper. I'm afraid if that's the case my detentions can't be having that much of an effect on you. You see Mr Potter I want you to admit that I'm getting to you. I want you to go to all of your rotten little friends and tell them that not only are you wrong about a certain Dark wizard being at large once again, but that you are nothing more than an attention seeking liar who is determined, like your hero Dumbledore, to cause trouble for the Ministry. And yet you continue to spread lies about those immensely clever than yourself. You forget Mr Potter, I have the full might of the Ministry behind me. So, as you have been spreading, shall we say mistruths, about my detentions with you, you will return to my office tonight and do another, and perhaps there will be more for the rest of the week if the message doesn't sink in. You may go." She purred smugly, and longing to throw a diatribe at her, Harry simply grabbed his bag and slammed the door as he left.
XX
"How were you made aware of this Minerva?" Dumbledore asked as three of his Heads of House sat at his desk, two of them looking furious and the other inscrutable as always. His deputy however was in a storming rage and was pacing like a caged animal.
"Longbottom. He came to me in confidence, but I couldn't just ignore it! Albus, she is torturing Harry in those detentions, she is ripping his hand open and making him write lines in his own blood!" she stormed, her face marked with colour and Sprout, looking slightly worried, laid a hand on McGonagall's arm to try and calm her down.
"How was Neville made aware of what is happening to Harry?" Dumbledore asked, inspecting his fingers, and Sprout looked at him incredulously.
"Does it really matter? She is physically harming one of our students!" she snapped, letting go of McGonagall, who immediately started pacing again, her temper roiling, much like Harry's nowadays, just under the surface.
"Are we take the word on that of Potter, an attention seeking know it all, and Longbottom, the worst student in the year?" Snape sneered, and both McGonagall and Sprout's eyes flashed, turning to Snape, but Flitwick, stroking his long white beard, dealt with Snape's sneer far more effectively than either of them could have managed.
"Worst student in the year? I don't think the Head of House who has Crabbe and Goyle among his students can lecture any of us on that." He said tartly, and McGonagall allowed herself a small smile before turning back to Dumbledore, while Flitwick looked rather pleased with himself and Snape scowled.
"Did Harry, Ron or Hermione physically tell Neville this?" Dumbledore asked, and McGonagall scowled as she shook her head, glaring at her friend as she did so.
"No they didn't, he said he heard Harry telling Ron not to say anything, he only heard by a stroke of luck. Albus, we need to do something!" she insisted, and Flitwick nodded his agreement.
"She's right Albus, we're their teachers yes but also their protectors, and we are failing, we're only on the second week of term and she has ripped open a student's hand, if this is the start I dread to think how it might wind up. Particularly, if Severus is right, she is seeking to get Filch onside, he has no loyalty to the students. If she gives him the possibility of whipping the students, she'll win him over." He said darkly, and Dumbledore sighed, steepling his fingers together and looked at his staff, a sickening feeling in his gut as he admitted the truth.
"I'm afraid we can do nothing." He said gravely, and McGonagall took the blow to be physical, sitting down weakly and looking at him in disbelief, unable to form words.
Sprout looked at the headmaster incredulously, spluttering in indignation.
"Albus, she is-" she began hotly, and he nodded, the twinkle in his eyes very much dimmed from its usual state.
"Yes, she is. However, I cannot challenge Dolores on hearsay, especially with to whom she is reporting." He told them, and Sprout slammed her fist on the table, surprising Dumbledore slightly and earning her a reproachful look from Fawkes, who shuffled on his perch.
"Well call Harry here then, ask him outright if Umbridge is torturing him, which she is, and then…"
"And then what Pomona? Fudge will take no action, particularly on the part of Potter. And all it will do is further antagonise him and Umbridge, and she will simply lash out at the students, and Potter and anyone who agrees with him in particular." Snape explained, and she turned to look at him, hardly daring to believe her ears, but McGonagall's eyes were fixed on Dumbledore, and she knew, in that moment, that it was no good and that he agreed with Snape.
"Severus is right. And I highly doubt Harry will come forward regardless." He admitted ruefully, and Snape allowed himself a pleased smirk, unable to resist poking at McGonagall.
"Typical, idiotic Gryffindor self-sacrifice, thinking they can do it all alone…" he mumbled, and her nostrils flared but she otherwise ignored Snape's slight on her house, and instead turned her angry eyes onto Dumbledore.
She knew his reasons, and yes, to an extent they did make sense, but really, he was basically hanging Harry out to dry and letting him do all of this alone, and she was rather frustrated with the headmaster, nor was she the only member of the Order to be thinking so.
"Well perhaps if you had said anything to him recently, he might not be quite so unwilling to come forward." She sniped, and Dumbledore shot her an unimpressed look, but she was too angry with the way he had been ignoring Harry and the fact that Umbridge was torturing one of her students and she was powerless to do anything about it to care much one way or another.
"So we do nothing?" Flitwick demanded, flabbergasted, and Dumbledore nodded gravely.
"I'm afraid so Filius. We must try to protect the students as much as we can of course, but it's no secret that Dolores will not stop until she controls the entire school, and very soon our objections will mean very little. Minerva, you cannot confront Dolores, if you do," he said talking louder, as she was about to interrupt, "if you do she will mark you as a target as well, and could even try and get rid of you first. For now, I am her target, and we need her to remain dedicated to usurping control of the school from me, which means, you, all of you, cannot antagonise her more than is necessary. Am I understood?" he asked severely, and while all four staff did look mutinous, they reluctantly nodded.
"Albus, if we don't stop her now…" McGonagall begged, but Dumbledore shook his head, though despite his actions with Harry recently, he didn't want him hurt any more than necessary, and he couldn't help but feel that he was dooming Harry, and whatever other student came across Umbridge's path, to a lot more pain and misery than they ought to be dealing with.
"Believe me Minerva, that thought will be enough to keep me up at night for quite some time." He told her sadly, and with that, Snape leading the way, the others left the office, reflecting on how rapidly their power was diminishing now that Dolores Umbridge was installed in the school.
XX
"Harry!" Ron exclaimed in relief as Harry entered the common room following his detention with Umbridge.
"Are you ok?" Hermione asked as Harry flopped down into his chair by the fire, blood running from his hand and Ron took his hand in his, hastily accepting the handkerchief that Hermione had been soaking in Murtlap extract for when Harry returned.
"I'm fine." He muttered, glaring into the fire as Ron sat on the arm of Harry's armchair, gently cleaning up his hand, an expression of worried concern on his face as he did so.
"Harry, I'm so sorry I got you into this." Ron muttered, and Harry fixed a tired, world weary glance on him, looking confused.
"What are you talking about?" he asked in confusion, and for some reason he felt a little pang as Ron stopped cleaning up his bleeding hand.
"When I was making things up in Divination, I'm so sorry, I never would have done it if I thought the old cow would torture you for it all over again, I'm so-"
"Ron, it wasn't your fault." Harry said quietly, but Ron was continuing in the same vein as he had been.
"Sorry, next time I'll just tell her I see a useless old fraud-"
"Ron, it wasn't you!" Harry insisted, but Ron was still apologising profusely, though was now being watched with slight amusement by Hermione.
"And tell her to stick her crystal ball right up her ar-"
"It wasn't you!" Harry all but yelled, bringing a stop to Ron's rambling, and his best friend looked at him in confusion, and Harry shrugged, a slight, tired smile on his face as he did so.
"We were in class right before she gave me that detention, there's no way she could have found out about your so called 'vision'. It's not you, don't blame yourself." Harry assured him tiredly, and was relieved when Ron gave him a slight smile and began stroking his hand again, and Hermione scowled angrily.
"Either way though she's still foul. Giving Harry another detention just because someone found out what she's doing to them in said detentions? She's evil, she's torturing you Harry." She complained, and Harry, too tired, fed up and (not that he would admit it to himself) but enjoying Ron stroking his hand to get worked up over the evil old tyrant at the moment.
"Not like we can do anything though is it? Fudge put her here, we're going to be stuck with her until Voldemort comes out into the open. Oh for god sake." Harry complained in amusement, as Ron had toppled off the arm of the chair in fright upon hearing the Dark Lord's name and was now glaring at Harry ruefully from the floor, making Harry grin.
Hermione was watching them with great interest, her mind working overtime as she observed the two of them, a small smile on her face as she did so, well that was interesting, wasn't it?
Jarred from her musings (musings, not fantasies, she told herself firmly), she looked up as the twins and Ginny sat down beside them at the fireplace.
"We heard you had another detention with the old hag, you ok?" George asked, taking Harry's hand, his eyes burning with repressed fury as he saw what she was doing to his adopted little brother, and Harry nodded.
"Yeah I'm fine. Not much we can do about it is there" he lamented sadly, and George stroked his hair slightly as Ron resumed stroking his hand.
"I was talking about it with Colin in Transfiguration, McGonagall looked livid." Ginny muttered, and Harry groaned.
"Oh great now she'll be mad at me too and give me another detention, it's not like I did anything this time, and I'm getting my hand ripped open, it's hardly fair!" he protested, and Ginny shook her head, looking thoughtful.
"I don't think she's mad at you, I think she knows what Umbridge is doing, it would explain a lot, maybe someone else has been in a detention with her, and isn't a martyr like you are, and McGonagall found out." She mused, and Ron whistled, impressed.
"You reckon McGonagall knows and she's still torturing students? Whoa she must have a death wish." He said, and Hermione however looked rather miserable at the prospect.
"McGonagall and the rest of the teachers are stuck just like we are. Umbridge is going to get more and more power, and the teachers won't be able to stop her. Much as she'll hate it, McGonagall will have to endure it." She concluded grimly, and they all went silent, dreading exactly what Umbridge's next move was going to be if McGonagall couldn't stop her torturing the students.
"Want something to cheer you up Harry?" Fred asked, grinning as he pointed to the window, and a very happy Hedwig soared in and landed on Harry's knee, allowing her to stroke her as she nipped his fingers gently.
"Hedwig, where've you been?" he asked, and Ginny grinned.
"We figured she'd be the perfect little messenger to deliver our less than good wishes to our dear elder brother. She was quite eager to join in." she said cheerfully, and Ron grinned in malicious delight.
"So Percy got everything we sent?" he asked excitedly, and Fred winked at his little brother.
"At the moment little brother, he's bound to be having rather a nasty night." He purred smugly, and Harry grinned as he and his friends imagined just what was happening to Percy at that very moment.
XX
Ginny's furious, amplified voice suddenly ended, but by that time it was far too late for Percy to do anything to save his apartment. The exploding portable swamp that had been sent, in hindsight obviously the twins doing, now filled the flat, and frogs, toads, insects and the occasional duck filled his new home. A tower of dragon dung had erupted upon originally opening the parcel, and had splattered on his ceiling, the smell combining with the smell of the swamp to make a very pungent scent. There was frogspawn in his hair and he was covered in gunk from the swamp, and he was sure that he had fish and tadpoles inside his trousers. Two ever-bashing boomerangs had smashed their way out of his door and window respectively. A fanged Frisbee had eaten a massive chunk out of his curtains. Fireworks had burned the words 'prat', 'moron' and 'jerk' onto his walls. Stink pellets were adding to the general aroma of the flat. The Howler had burned a hole in his desk, reducing his quills to ashes. His prefect and head boy badges which he kept on his desk had been immolated by fireworks, turning them into twisted metal. And now there was the sound of insects buzzing and rubbing their legs filling the room.
His entire body was covered in painful boils, a result of the bulbadox powder which had blown out of the parcel in a cloud. His nose was pouring with blood, as a sweet of some description, had fired from the parcel right into his mouth and wasn't stopping. His fingers were a mess, covered in large yellow boils as well as those caused by the bulbapox powder, a result of the undiluted bubotuber pus.
And Ginny's words echoed in his mind to boot.
"HOW DARE YOU TURN ON OUR FAMILY, TURN ON HARRY? RON AND I WOULDN'T BE STANDING HERE IF IT WASN'T FOR HIM! HES A BETTER PART OF THIS FAMILY THAN YOU'VE EVER BEEN, AT LEAST HARRY WOULDN'T ABANDON US OR TURN HIS BACK ON HIS WHOLE FAMILY JUST BECAUSE HE THINKS THEYRE WRONG. YOU BROKE MUMS HEART, YOU MADE DAD FEEL LIKE A FAILURE AND ALL BECAUSE YOURE TOO ARROGANT TO SEE WHATS REALLY GOING ON HERE! DO YOU REALLY THINK HARRY WOULD MAKE ALL THIS UP? HE IS BACK, AND YOURE THE ONE ON THE WRONG SIDE, YOURE THE ONE WHOS GOING TO BE SORRY!
AND FOR THE RECORD, DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU, THE LEAST POPULAR WEASLEY, THE MAN WHO ABANDONED HIS OWN FAMILY AND BROKE HIS PARENTS HEART WHILE CALLING THEM FAILURES, WOULD BE ENOUGH TO TURN RON AGAINST HARRY? IF YOU ARE YOU'RE EVEN MORE MORONIC THAN I EVER THOUGHT!
SO I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS LITTLE GIFT BASKET THAT WE PUT TOGETHER FOR YOU PERCY, AND HOPE THAT YOUR NICE NEW FLAT AND JOB IS WORTH LOSING THE LOVE AND RESPECT OF YOUR FAMILY FOR! YOU AND FUDGE DESERVE EACH OTHER, YOU ARROGANT, POMPOUS SELF SERVING TWAT!
AND DON'T YOU DARE EVER MAKE HARRY FEELT SO SHITTY AGAIN OR YOULL GET WORSE THAN WE JUST GAVE YOU!"
It was sad really, how misguidedly loyal his family were to Harry. It was obvious that the boy, who he had previously liked admittedly, was nothing more than a deranged attention seeking brat who loved being famous and was making up tall tales just so he could continue being famous. He and Dumbledore, who clearly wanted to usurp control of the Ministry, and his family couldn't see how blind they were being. Harry was dangerous, and Ron in particular was in danger from continued association with the boy, how was he meant to follow in his footsteps if he didn't cast off the dead weight that was Potter's rapidly sinking ship?
And the rest of his family, he did love them, of course he did. But they seemed determined not to do what was best for them. By allying with Dumbledore and Harry they were dooming themselves to ruin.
He looked around his ruined flat, not feeling anger, only pity. He'd given them the cold hard truth about Harry but their misguided loyalty had led them to do this to him. He could understand that. But that meant that he had to save them from themselves, and from Harry.
They had to be made to see that Dumbledore, his Order friends, and above all Harry, were going to lead them all to ruin.
And only he could save them, only he could do what was necessary to make sure his family didn't destroy themselves because of their loyalty to the deluded attention seeking prat who loved to be famous.
Which meant he needed Dolores Umbridge.
XX
"Thank you very much Mr Weasley. You have been very helpful." Umbridge said in toadlike delight, sipping her sweet tea.
"And you'll be true to your word?" Percy asked nervously, and she gave him a reassuring smile.
"Of course Mr Weasley, I will inform the minister of how helpful you've been, informing us that Sirius Black is in contact with Harry Potter. You've done the right thing Percy." She assured him and he gave her a slight smile.
"Thank you Senior Undersecretary." He said, and she opened her mouth to correct him, and he shook his head, he'd forgotten the law that had been passed at midnight.
"I mean High Inquisitor. Good night." He said, and left the fireplace.
And with that, Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, newly appointed Hogwarts High Inquistior, leaned back in her chair as she pondered how best to get to Potter and how she could use this information that she had been given to silence him once and for all.
Here's the second installment as everyones most hated villain is just beginning to tighten her grip over Hogwarts
So Ron is beginning to notice that his feelings towards Harry are starting to change, is there anything to that? Could it be reciprocated? And just what does Umbridge plan to do next?
Let me know what you think and please read and review!